Elder #1 Print

I am a portrait / figurative artist based in Venlo, Netherlands, working mainly in charcoal, pastel and graphite. Being without studio this summer, drove me to photographing trees during my walks in nature, resulting in a series of vertical landscape photographic works. Otherwise I draw portraits and vintage scenes based on antique photographs. I also have an ongoing series of re-imagined classical/mythological 'golden oldies' that have been painted many times in art history, and I really enjoy rendering the human anatomy in a direct and succinct way on paper, resulting in a series of nudes. My main focus is on Humans. My approach to inspirational input is that of an omnivore, feeding in 360º on both 'high' and 'low' culture. My creative output has always been similarly divers in form. (i.e. sculptures in stone/metal/wood, paintings, murals, photo-based work) Only recently I have been able to narrow things down a bit. For about a decade, circumstances forced me to focus on one mode of expression (2D, digital), and a couple of years ago I returned full circle to the place where my creativity once sprouted... DRAWINGS Early 2020, I started drawing again, after not having done that for more than a decade, and not this seriously since my childhood/adolescence, when I hardly did anything else. I draw in a sparse yet naturalistic style, capturing many details but also adding layers dealing with realities of existence beyond the obviously visible. They are expressed in colour, direction, gesture, texture, juxtaposition of elements. My images are spiked with a promiscuous mix of style features, which often makes labeling them as such into a somewhat laughable exercise, merely justified by heightened findability. I guess what I make is usually called 'outsider art'. Facing the world as it is evolving, in my current situation, this is my natural response. I try to steer clear of cynicism, explicit commentary, or attempts at 'activism', focussing instead on developing my draftsmanship and chasing Beauty in various ways. Still, behind all of my pieces there is also the incredulously curious Alien, attempting to process present day reality on Earth while trying to stay sane. ------------------------------------------- In the decade preceding my current adventure as a late-blooming draftsman, my medium has been a Mac with Wacom tablet and much maligned but truly magnificent Photoshop.